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Monday, 21 November 2016

Review: BigFatPurse Value Investing Mastery Course

When I
first embarked on my investing journey last year, I started out by reading
various books on the topic and trying to pick up some skills through the
self-taught method.

Needless
to say, I made quite a number of amateur mistakes along the way, but that’s a
story for another day.

After
making some of these mistakes, I thought that perhaps attending investing
courses would help me – after all, I get to learn from the experts, and pick
their brains on how I can become a better investor. Unfortunately, I realised
what I wanted out of the workshops and what the trainers wanted were two
completely different things – while I wanted to learn techniques and skills
which I could then execute myself, most of them were more interested in
(hard-)selling me a 4-digit course fee instead.

Many of these “workshops” were
simply previews of a more expensive course. For these, I felt like I had wasted my day at the
place because I hardly learnt anything new. Here’s how their “workshops” go:

-Introduce value investing. Talk about Warren Buffett, the kind of
amazing results he made, how he is the only person on Forbes’ list to have
earned his riches through investing and not through business, etc.

-Share their (the trainers’)
personal life story. I was stuck in the
civil service working a 9-to-5 job and was a slave to my bosses! Then I
stumbled upon this XX course and my investing PASSIVE income was now exceeding
my monthly income! I quit my job because I really believe in financial
education and knowledge!

-Show off their company’s track
record. Cue performance charts of their
returns. Show cheques or slips of money they’ve received through dividends.
Show stock prices with arrows pointing at buying high and selling low.

-Go through case studies of value
stocks. Among the most popular examples used include SATS, Starhub, VICOM, etc.
Sorry if you’re hoping for stock tips because these
stock prices are now over-valued.

-Ask the audience “Wouldn’t you
like to learn how to find these stocks for yourself?”

-Introduce their members-only
scheme. Share about their members track record. Play videos of interviews with
their members proclaiming how glad they were that they signed up and the kind
of returns they are making.

-Sell a 4 or 5-digit course to you.
This is the part where I leave while shaking my head
in disgust at how I’ve wasted an entire day listening to them talk about
themselves with nothing of value to me.

I’m not
here to lambast or smear anyone’s name(s), so I shall not name the courses I
went for. But there is one particularly course I want to single out today: BigFatPurse’s Value Investing Mastery
Course (VIMC).

I
attended VIMC over the weekend, expecting to go through somewhat the same flow.
Boy, was I wrong.

VIMC was
not a preview – it was the real deal. In the 8 hours I spent there, I learnt a
method and step-by-step calculations which I could apply immediately once I
stepped out of the class. There was no need to sign up for anything more; I had
learnt the skills to now execute and put into practice by myself.

Whether
you’re a beginner or experienced investor, you’ll find that this course will
really open your eyes up to investing and introduce a new way of valuing stocks
that you’ve probably never encountered before. The trainers – Alvin and Louis –
taught us about BigFatPurse’s proprietary investing strategy which focuses on
capital gain rather than dividend yield.

This is
their Conservative Net Asset Value
(CNAV) strategy which they’ve created themselves which provides a
systematicapproach to valuing stocks
and finding out when to buy and sell them.

Unlike
many other courses on value investing, what they taught here is NOT available
in any books out there. Even after reading so many investment books and
websites, I’ve never encountered their strategy nor calculations before. This
alone made my entire day spent at the workshop worth it.

I’m not
paid to promote them, but if you asked me, this is the most REAL investment
course I’ve ever attended with absolutely no hard-selling. It was a breath of
fresh air compared to all the other courses I’ve attended this year. VIMC
starts by giving you a short introduction of value investing (not just Warren
Buffett, surprise!) and then it goes straight into the CNAV methodology and
calculations. At the last hour, you’ll then play an investment game (I don’t
want to give anything away here, but this is frankly the most exciting and
insightful part of the course where you’ll discover more about your own
investing style and assumptions).

SGD 98 is far too cheap given the value I got from this 1-day workshop. In fact, I even spoke to Alvin after and told him they ought to raise the price (considering what others are charging) to at least 3-digits, but he politely declined my suggestion. I don't understand it.

Update: the folks at BFP have just informed me that their higher rental costs leave them with no choice but to increase prices so each ticket will now be $128 for next year. (I can attest to this: venue rental prices are about $800 - $1500 on weekends when I tried sourcing for event spaces. Try Googling yourself.)

When I
told them I would be publishing a review of their course, Alvin went one step
further to offer a further discount
for my readers. Frankly speaking, I think he’s crazy
to not want to charge higher.

VIMC even comes with a money-back-guarantee if you're not satisfied with the course. I really don't understand what these folks are thinking.

Disclaimer: I was invited to
attend VIMC for free, but after going through the workshop, I can honestly say
this is something I’ll gladly and extremely willing to pay for because of the tremendous
value I got out of it. This is not affiliate marketing and I do NOT get a
single cent if you sign up using the link or my coupon code, but I’ve promoted
it here anyway because I frankly think this course is the most valuable one
I’ve ever attended.

Find out the dates for their next VIMC course at this link and apply coupon code BUDGETBABE for a $20 discount!Aside from value investing, they also teach on other investments:- Investing in Bonds (13 May 2017)- Investing in REITS (3 June 2017)Now
excuse me while I go check on my queue order for my first CNAV stock purchase
:D I had spent my Saturday night poring over the research right after I came home from the course. See, I wasn't kidding about being able to use the skills immediately!

Hi! I am Singaporean but based in Canada. I see that there is an online course as well for those not located in Singapore. Do you recommend that? I might go back Singapore in March so could enroll in this. Do you have any other recommendation in other financial coaching courses in Singapore when I make a return or should I just go for this?

Hi! I've not tried the online course so I can't really comment, but yes if you could do one in March I think you should definitely sign up! Few courses catch my eye and I can only comment on the ones I've gone for, and VIMC is one of them :)

Hi! I'm contemplating if I should join as a VIMC member. Would like to ask if you joined as a member? Is it possible to use the strategy without the database as there are so many stocks to calculate for? Appreciate your input!

What's your mortgage like?

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You can call me Dawn, and this little space on the Internet is where I write about becoming financially-free. Join me as we learn more about savings, budgeting, paying off debts, insurance and investing together!

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Please note that all statements published on this blog are solely opinions of my own i.e. of a personal nature, and should not in any way be taken as statements of fact. Readers are encouraged to do their own research before arriving at any conclusions based solely on materials provided, or republished, on this blog.